The Clean Slate
by x.xOracles.Shadowx.x
Summary: Since leaving the BAU, Jason Gideon has been looking for a way to outrun Frank's ghost and to be happy again. When he finds Elle Greenaway in a tiny town in Colorado, she might be able to offer him both. - ElleGideon if you look for it, part one of two. Enjoy! If you recognize it, I don't own it.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello everyone! Long time, no updates, huh? Sorry about that, I just got back to town and I've been trying to get back in the swing of school after a glorious vacation. Thanks for being so understanding about the lack of updates, guys, I appreciate it. =) **

**So, a couple things: **

**1) If anyone from PLL is reading this, I promise you, I will update Hopeless by the end of the month. I've just got a million and one things to do before I have any free time to upload a large amount of stuff, but when I get a break, I will write and update. =) **

**2) For this story, it's ElleGideon simply because I was watching Season 1 all over again, and it might have been my personal opinion colouring things but I saw some chemistry there. I did, and I wrote about it because I simply will not believe that both Elle and Gideon just went Poof! once leaving the show. I loved them, I won't believe they just vanished into thin air. So, this is my way of dealing with it. This is the first half of the two-shot, and as far as places, I have no idea if there is actually a place called Cotton River. It sounded cute, so I used it. Also, I actually have no idea why Sarah was in Gideon's apartment when Frank killed her, but the second half of the story addresses why I think she was there. I don't know if it's canon, but it's how it unfolded in my head. **

**3) And, for factual accuracy, I have no idea what it takes to get licensed to do therapy, but for this, let's say that ex- FBI profilers get a little leniency when it comes to licensing. For all I know I could be wrong in every conceivable way but I just didn't see Elle slipping quietly into domestic life. So there is that. **

**Okay! I think that's it... Enjoy, guys. =) It's more like a family/ comfort thing, but if you subscribe to Elle and Gideon as a pairing as I do, it's there if you look for it. **

**Enjoy!**

Since he left the BAU at a run, Frank's words followed him. When he was in a town in Wyoming and lost in bird watching, he heard someone ask, '_What is your obsession with birds, Jason?'_ He'd packed up and was gone by four o'clock the next morning, leaving one very confused and sleepy hotel desk attendant in his wake.

When he was visiting Mount Rushmore and contemplating the hubris of man, he could almost hear '_You're not the hero your parents thought you were, Jason'._ The former profiler had barricaded himself in the cottage he'd rented for a day and a half until the shaking stopped.

As he sat at the base of a tree in the hills of Yosemite National Park, he'd picked up a pencil and paper and sketched the area for hours. He'd felt at peace for the first time in months, surrounded by that much beauty, and he thought of how his family would have enjoyed the scene. But Frank had to ruin that too. He thought of JJ's smile and Emily's laugh and Hotch's smirk, Morgan's personality, Garcia's enthusiasm, and Spencer's genuineness. All the beauty and life he'd left behind after Frank destroyed it, destroyed Sarah, and even then, in the depths of nature itself, he heard, '_Beauty can cover a multitude of sins, but underneath, we all look exactly the same'_ as the wind rustled through the trees and over the crashing water_. _Even dead, he wouldn't stop hunting him.

Jason Gideon tried not to be a hateful man, but he hoped that whatever level of hell Frank Breitkopf was in was the hottest they had to offer.

It took a little over a year and a half for him to find his way to Cotton River, Colorado. It was a town so small it was little more than a speck on the map, but it was a little piece of nostalgia. The houses were quaint three and four bedroom buildings, each equipped with the white picket fence and a dog. There was one main street that stretched through the middle of town, there were no highways to speak of, and only one route out of town. When he stepped out of the fourth car he'd purchased in seventeen months, he knew he'd be staying in this town for a month or more.

He got settled into a motel and spent the day wandering around, getting acquainted with the town and the locals, all of whom were very friendly. Immediately, he picked out four who he would be a little wary of, a sales girl and narcissist, a gas station attending sociopath, a novelty shop owner with kleptomania, and a used car salesman who was almost obsessively paranoid, but on the whole, the town seemed like they'd pass Garcia's background check. He spent the night eating dinner in a diner, chatting with the waitress about the local sites and finding out about the town's history.

When he walked out of the motel the next morning and walked up the street with the intent of going to the grocery store, he saw a two story building with a hanging placard saying, 'Therapy and Emotional Counselling, E. Greenaway', and he decided to postpone the shopping. He gave the building a once over – post 1970s construction, fortified door and state of the art security system, hand crafted windows, hand built front porch and railing, wheelchair accessible, and gates around the windows – then walked in.

Inside, the waiting room was painted a dark green, with white couches and love seats on either side of the large bay windows letting light into the room. The floor was covered in a white carpet, a shoe and boot mat placed near the door. While Jason chose to keep his shoes on, he counted three other pairs of shoes, two adult and one child, meaning that if she was there, she had two parents and a child with her.

Gideon walked to the desk where a young man, maybe twenty five, not much younger than Spencer, greeted him with a toothy smile. "Hello, welcome to Greenaway Therapy."

"Hello. My name is Jason Gideon, I was passing by this place and I recognized the last name outside.", Jason explained. "I was wondering, could you tell me the name of the person who owns this place?"

"Sure, that would be Ms. Greenaway. She's the registered therapist here.", the kid explained.

"I see. Does Ms. Greenaway have a first name?", Jason asked.

"Yeah, she does, it's Elle. How did you say you knew her?", he asked cautiously.

"I didn't but we used to work together back in Virginia. Is she with a patient right now?"

"Yeah, one of our regulars. Family therapy. Did you want to leave a message for her?", he asked.

He had every intention of saying no, that he would wait there for her, but before he could say the words, he changed his mind. "No, that's alright. I just remembered somewhere else I have to be. Thank you."

Gideon was out the door, done his shopping and back in his motel room in a little under a half hour. He chose to stay in the motel for the better part of the day, but around dinner that evening, a knock came at his door. The former profiler opened his door and found the motel desk clerk standing in front of him.

"Yes?", Gideon asked.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Gideon, but there's someone down in the dining hall who'd like to see you.", the clerk explained and even though he knew he was dead, Gideon felt cold all over. He swore he could hear Frank say, '_I will never stop, Jason._'

"Who is it?", Gideon asked.

"They've asked me not to say, just to bring you down to the dining room.", the clerk answered and Jason knew he didn't really have a choice.

"Alright. Show me to them, will you?", Gideon asked and followed the clerk down to the dining room. When they entered the motel dining area, a very elaborate affair of high backed chairs and tables covered with silk, the clerk led him to a table where a slim brunette sat sipping a glass of water. She turned around and for the first time since she left, Jason Gideon saw Elle Greenaway smile at him and for the first time in months, he felt like he could breathe again.

"Surprise.", Elle said to him. She looked at the clerk, who was smiling behind him, and said, "Thanks Tommy."

"No problem, Ms. Greenaway. I'll get one of the girls over here to take your orders. Enjoy your dinner, guys.", the clerk, Tommy, assured them and walked over to the cash registers. Elle looked at him and smiled once again.

"Cat got your tongue, Jason?", Elle asked, gesturing to the seat beside her. He had no idea what else to do so he sat, accepting the glass of water she nudged toward him. Elle sat back in her seat and then said, "You really put a scare into Nick. He thought you were a patient who'd gone off his meds."

"Nick?", Gideon asked.

"My receptionist. I explained who you are when he told me your name. You could have left a message, you know, save me all the running around.", Elle commented.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me. You left in a quite a hurry. No calls, no emails. You vanished.", Gideon explained and Elle sighed.

"I didn't leave because of you, Jason.", Elle said quietly.

He knew that but he wanted the chance to ask her himself. "Then why? We could have helped you."

"If I hadn't, I'd have put a gun to my head. I was in pain, Jason, I couldn't take being there for one second longer.", Elle told him. "And I wanted to call. So many times I wanted to call, just to check in and see if everyone was okay. But with everything with Hotch and Morgan, I didn't know if you wanted to hear from me."

"You could have emailed. Garcia was going out of her mind, her and JJ. And Morgan and Reid and Hotch were beating themselves up about what happened to you. We were worried about you."

"Don't, Jason.", Elle warned. "Do not talk about this like I was some kind of helpess victim. I'm still here, I'm still alive."

"We didn't know that.", Gideon told her softly. "How did you find me here?"

Elle shrugged, taking another sip of her water. "I might be a little out of practice but I haven't forgotten how to profile. That, and everyone is talking about the stranger in town. It didn't take me long to hear that you were staying here." Her eyes went soft suddenly. "I heard about what happened with Breitkopf, Jason."

Even dead, the man managed to ruin everything. Gideon felt his shoulders sag. "How?"

"The news. It was a big thing around here, one of his victims was the sister of the town mayor. The PD got JJ to send them back as much information as she could for her family, not knowing that I live here. They heard about Jane, and about how he followed you back to DC.", Elle explained quietly, then reached out and took Gideon's hand in hers. "Jason, I am so sorry you had to go through that. And I'm sorry for what he did to Sarah."

Even seventeen months later, the reminder of that night still made a sharp pain shoot through him. "I could have saved her. I should have saved her.", Gideon mumbled. "Now her boys will never see their mother again."

"Jason, there was nothing you could have done. Breitkopf was a monster.", Elle told him firmly, forcing him to look up at her. "Sarah's death was a tragedy, and he made sure there was nothing you could have done to stop him."

"I could have. I could have stopped him. Killed him right there in the desert, after he told me where the kids were. If I had, I'd have saved Sarah and Rebecca and Jane."

"Jason, that's not something you'd ever do.", Elle reminded him gently. Gideon looked up at her and her mouth opened in shock as she saw the look on his face.

"You did, and Lee can't hurt anyone anymore.", Gideon told her quietly. Elle's eyes fell to their linked hands and she squeezed his hand once.

"You're not me, Jason.", Elle answered then looked up and smiled as a waitress walked over to them. "Tara, I didn't know you were working tonight."

The waitress, a young blonde girl, smiled at Elle then answered, "Yeah, Ms. Greenaway. An empty shift came up and it got me out of the house. Have you two decided what you're having or should I give you another minute?"

"Well, I think I could go for the steak special. It's been a good day. Jason? What are you having? My treat.", Elle asked.

"Elle, you don't have to –"

"But I am, Jason. Consider it a welcome gift. Now what do you want to eat?", Elle pressed with a grin. Gideon glanced at the menu then shrugged and said,

"I'll have what you're having."

"Great. Can I get you anything to drink? We've got pop, iced tea, lemonade, most of the name brand beers, as well as a pretty large selection of wine.", Tara asked, jotting down the order on her notepad.

"I'll just have a ginger ale, thanks, Tara. I need to drive back to my place.", Elle answered. "Jason?"

"Lemonade would be great, thank you."

"No problem. Alright, that's two steak specials, a ginger ale and lemonade. Coming right up.", Tara said and collected the menus.

When the young girl was out of earshot, Gideon said, "You know everyone in town?"

"It's a pretty small town; you get to after a while. Tara's mother was one of my patients."

"'Was'?"

"She died a year or so ago.", Elle explained. "I treated Tara for a while after it, just some therapy to help deal with the loss. She and her mom were pretty close."

"She seems to have handled with things well."

"You never get over the death of a parent, Jason, I know from experience.", Elle told him. "But humans, especially kids, are resilient. She bounced back well."

Gideon raised his glass of water and said, "Here's to human resilience."

Elle clinked her glass against his. "I'll drink to that."

"You lied to her though. You don't have to drive back to your house. I didn't see a car by your office.", Jason accused and Elle laughed.

"Only here twenty minutes and you're already profiling me.", Elle replied, a smile pulling across her face.

"Force of habit.", Gideon said and shrugged.

"Well, you're right, I did lie. I just live up the street here, but you see the girl Tara is talking to?", Elle asked and Gideon flicked his eyes to where Tara stood by the doors to the kitchen. "She and Tara are two of the biggest gossips in town. If I had something to drink while in the company of a male gentleman, it wouldn't take long for it to go around that I wasn't driving home, and soon after people would jump to the conclusion that I had other sleeping arrangements for the night."

For the first time in ages, Gideon laughed. "Ah, I understand. Well, teenagers are nothing if not curious.", he said to her. "So, when did you get licensed?"

"I took some classes shortly after I left the BAU. I figured I knew enough about the human psyche that I might as well put them to use doing something I like. Turns out, therapy is that thing.", Elle explained.

"And how did you get here? This is the last place I'd have picked to find you in."

"That was kind of the point.", Elle answered, grinning at him. "I wanted to get as far away as I could from everything that ever hurt me, and I wound up passing through here after I left Virginia. I stayed for a while, got a place out here. I met a man, got married, and then got divorced when I woke up screaming from a nightmare to find my bed empty and my husband in the next house over with our neighbour's wife."

"I'm sorry.", Gideon said by default, even though he thought any man who would cheat on Elle Greenaway had to be the dumbest man on earth.

"I'm not.", Elle scoffed. "It was the best thing that could have happened to me. During the divorce, it got out, courtesy of my ex, that I had nightmares. "Terrible, screaming, wake the dead nightmares", according to him. He thought I was insane, but the county judge who divorced us and awarded me a generous spousal support amount recognized it for what it was. After the trial, he recommended me to a therapist, Doctor Miranda Fields. She reminded me a lot of Reid, actually. I was her patient for the better part of six months and when it came time for her to retire, she asked me to take over the practice after her. She said I didn't need her help anymore, but that I had experiences that would let me help a lot of other people, victims of violent crimes, etcetera."

"So that led you to opening your practice here?"

"That's right. I'm in town here three days a week and the next county over three other days of the week, giving me one day of glorious freedom. And, it gives my ex a constant reminder of just where his alimony is going.", Elle chuckled. "He runs the novelty store up the street, Jason Thoms."

"Kleptomaniac.", Gideon immediately told her and Elle laughed again.

"So you've met him. He was a good man at first but during the divorce, I found out that he'd been transferring money from our joint account to an offshore account. I figured using the alimony to finance my practice was as subtle a 'Screw you' as I could come up with, given the circumstances."

"Sounds like you've made quite a home for yourself here. I'm happy for you, Elle.", Gideon said to her and she smiled again.

"Well, not to pressure you or anything, but it could be your home too.", Elle told him and Gideon blinked in confusion.

"What are you talking about?", Gideon asked.

"Come on, Jason. I know that look in your eye; I've seen it enough to know what it means.", Elle reminded him. "You're running, looking for something to make you happy and to fill the hole Frank left in your chest, to stop the bleeding. I know, I've been there."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you're brilliant. I'm saying that you know more about people than any other human being I've ever met, and I could use another therapist. I'm saying that I'm offering you a job."

"Elle, I'm not licensed."

"The people here don't need degrees and medical jargon; they need to know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and that they can and will reach it.", Elle explained, leaning over the table and keeping his hand in hers. "They need to know that there are other people out there who have the same wounds, and have gone through worse than they'll ever see and that they can _survive_."

Gideon was quiet and silence lapsed between them as he considered what Elle was proposing. He looked up at her and said, "How can I let them know that when I'm still just as in the dark as they are?"

"It doesn't happen overnight, Jason. Or even over seventeen months' worth of nights.", Elle told him knowingly. Her eyes went to her hands, and she said, "It's taken me a little over three years to stop sleeping with the light on and a knife under my pillow, and if I think about it too much, I can still see my blood on the wall when I close my eyes. For the year and a half I was married, my ex was afraid to come up behind me in a dark room in case I pulled a weapon on him. And it doesn't happen often anymore but every so often, when it's a hot night, I still smell Lee's cologne when I walk down the street from my office to my apartment, and it still makes me shake until I'm in my place and the door is deadlocked."

"Elle." Gideon went silent; there was nothing he could say to take that pain away. Elle smiled softly at him.

"I'm just saying, Jason. This place is the reason I'm as okay as I am. It's a small town, but there's room for one more.", Elle assured him gently. "How long are you planning to stay?"

A month. A year. Forever. The longest he'd ever spent in one place since leaving his cabin was two months in Indianapolis, and when he received a telegram from A. Hotchner, he'd burned it and was gone by the next morning. He'd used his bank card more than three times in the same town and that'd tipped Garcia off. He knew Hotch would have her watching his card usage to try to get a lead on where he was, and he just wasn't ready to deal with that reunion quite yet so he'd become a ghost once again.

But now, Elle was offering him… Offering him what, exactly? A new place to call home in this small town no one within a thousand miles had ever heard of? The fact that Elle was offering him anything at all after the way her time with the team ended was amazing, but even with the longer, redder hair and the absence of the tell-tale lipstick that'd defined SSA Elle Greenaway, he could still read Elle and she meant her offer sincerely.

He shook his head and smiled. "I don't know just yet. You think me staying here is a good idea, Elle? Garcia and the team keep tabs on me; it won't be long until they realize you're nearby."

Elle grinned at him. "Let them come. I've got nothing to hide out here, Jason. All my ghosts are buried in boxes in Virginia. I just think that being out here would be good for you, if not as a therapist than as whatever you want to be. It's a clean slate."

Those words unlocked something in the older SSA's chest. A clean slate, something he'd been searching for since he found Sarah slaughtered in his apartment. It could be a new beginning; one without profiling or demons or having to stare into the darkness of men while hoping that it didn't stare back. Gideon nodded, and as Tara made her way over and Elle's hand left his, he said, "I'd like that."

The smile on Elle's face lit up the room and she said, "Then welcome home, Jason."  
~*~

**AN: End of part one. I hope you enjoy it, guys. =) **

**I've got part two typed up and ready to go but I thought it best to break it into two chapters. All together, the story reached twenty pages, so this seemed more manageable. =) **

**Thanks for reading, everybody! Let me know what you think. **

**Until next time, much love,  
Oracle. (L)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: ... I told you I'd update soon. **

**Part II! As I missed it in the first chapter, DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING IN ANYTHING I WRITE. I AM MAKING NOTHING OFF OF THIS. **

**Yes, I felt it deserved the capitals. Moving on! **

**This is the last part of "The Clean Slate". Enjoy, and thank you for reading. =)**

The first month in Cotton River, Jason spent most of his time with Elle. He got a job at a local high school, teaching grade eleven introductions to sociology, psychology and anthropology which made Elle laugh when he told her about it over dinner, and began renting an apartment two floors below Elle's. When he wasn't teaching or talking with parents, he was sitting in the office of Elle's practice, grading papers and drinking coffee while she updated her records or held sessions. Jason never sat in on those, even without Elle asking him not to. He knew how patient confidentiality worked, even if the consulting therapist wasn't technically a practising mental health physician, and if an appointment came up while he was there, he'd move to the spare office Elle had set up for him down the hall, a medium sized room with little more than a window, a chair, a desk and a table lamp and work in there until Elle knocked gently on the door and asked him if he wanted to go for a coffee run.

From what he saw of it, Elle's technique amazed and amused him; she didn't ever diagnose people or prescribe them anything. She'd told Jason point blank that she wasn't in the business of medicating, she'd done enough of that to herself in the aftermath of the Fisher King and Lee. She acted more as a first response line, she'd explained to him. If people came to her, she would sit down and have a chat with them get to the root of the problem they faced, and if it was something like needing someone to talk to about school or the trials of work or day to day family life, or past issues about bullying or parental issues, she'd schedule a follow up appointment and after that, she'd tell them to come back whenever they felt necessary. If parents were getting a divorce, she would work with them and their family to try to find a way for the parents and any involved children to cope with the life change, and five of the eleven divorce cases she handled were cancelled when both parents decided to make another try of it. She offered more of a listening ear and time rather than pills to dull the ache and make life suck a little less.

However, if someone came to her and she noticed the signs she'd learned as a profiler, signs of depression, suicidal thoughts or actions, or anything that required professional medical treatment, she'd arrange to have one of her friends from the local hospital come in to sit down with the person and assess them, then arrange an official referral if it was necessary. She was also on a very friendly basis with the police force in town, and had given them warnings whenever she saw something that alarmed her. More than once, she told him, she worked in cooperation with the hospital staff. By the time the people she counselled were referred, they'd built up a certain trust with Elle, which made the non-medical side of things a lot easier on both the patient and the staff.

But she never ever wrote prescriptions or kept medications in her office. The most she took were mild painkillers to deal with whatever aches and pains she had, and a higher than normal caffeine intake. She told him about two weeks or so after he arrived that she'd heard about Reid getting kidnapped by Hankel and since then, she'd talked to the local pharmacy and cleared out their supply of dilaudid. Gideon had been profusely thankful for that, for a reason he couldn't explain. Thinking about Spencer and how betrayed he must have been after Gideon left hurt more than even he was willing to discuss, but Elle didn't push.

However, after his first month, the first letter arrived. When Jason picked up his mail after having a late dinner with Elle one evening, he saw the return address and stopped dead in the apartment lobby when he noticed that it was addressed to 'J. Gideon and E. Greenaway' . Elle walked next to him and said, "Jason?"

He showed her the letter and she pursed her lips but stayed silent. "It's from Hotch.", he said hoarsely.

"Are you going to open it?"

"It's the second letter he's sent. If he sends another and it goes unanswered, he'll start thinking something is wrong.", Jason told her. Elle took his arm and led him to the elevator, and when they arrived at his still sparsely decorated new home, Elle opened the door with her spare key and let them both in. When Gideon stood in his living room, Elle looked at the letter again.

"Just open it, Jason. It could just be him trying to make sure you're alright.", Elle told him. When Gideon hesitated, she added, "There's nothing they can to do you. You've left the Bureau, you're starting over. They can't blame you for leaving to stay sane."

Is that what he was doing? Then why did it feel a lot like hiding to him? He gulped and pulled open the envelope, and inside, there wasn't a letter, just a group of pictures. He tugged them out and looked at them as Elle observed over his shoulder, and the first face he saw was the healthier face of Spencer Reid. He didn't look as tired or scared as he had when Gideon left; he looked like he'd been sleeping well and eating regularly. Gideon smiled as he looked, then flipped the picture over to look at the back. In Hotch's slanted writing were the words, 'He misses you, but he's going to be okay, Jason.'

He hadn't known it before but those were the words Jason Gideon had been waiting to hear. He let out a huge gasp of air and smiled at Elle, who grinned back and took the pictures from him. She flipped to the next one and smiled as a profile shot of Morgan laughing at something Garcia said peered back at them from the glossy picture. On the back, Hotch noted, 'They're still oblivious but even around so much death, he makes her as happy as she tries to make us.'

"How long is that boy going to take?", Elle sighed in frustration, pulling a smile from Gideon.

"Who, Morgan?", Gideon asked and Elle rolled her eyes.

"You can't tell me you don't see it. They're perfect for each other! Even Hotch sees it!", Elle informed him. Truthfully, when it didn't involve Stephen, Spencer or Elle, he very rarely took notice of what went on in the personal lives of anyone. He didn't need to ask; he was usually the first to pick up on it anyway, whether he realized it or not at the time, and if he missed anything Hotch would usually bring him back up to speed.

Gideon shrugged and flipped to the next picture, to reveal a face Gideon hadn't seen in years that belonged to the man standing next to Emily. "What the hell is Rossi doing back there?", he asked in confusion.

"Rossi? As in David Rossi?", Elle asked, looking at the picture. Rossi, grayer than Gideon remembered him being, was standing next to Emily and Gideon didn't think it was just a trick of the photo, but if the look on Rossi's face was anything to go by, Rossi was flirting with Emily, who didn't look to be adamantly opposing it if the blush and laughter on her face was any indication. On the back, Hotch commented, 'We're all waiting to see how this will turn out. My money is on Dave.'

He and Elle exchanged a look of complete surprise, and Elle just said, "Huh. Didn't see that coming." He'd told Elle about Emily coming to the team, and Elle had been dead set on her prediction of Morgan and Emily dating. Apparently, she'd been way off.

Elle flipped to the fourth picture, and the first thing they saw was JJ in a hospital bed. Elle squeaked in surprise and peered hurriedly at the picture, afraid that JJ had been hurt in some way. The two had been good friends when Elle was at the Bureau, and Jason knew that JJ had been worried sick when Elle disappeared. Then, they both saw the baby she held in her arms, and the two ex-profilers shared another look of surprise. Gideon's eyebrow rose when he saw the New Orleans detective, Will LaMontagne, standing with his arm around JJ, with Spencer sitting next to her, an arm around her back and a smile on his face at the photographer, as well as Garcia sitting by JJ's knee and grinning at the baby.

"JJ had a baby?", Elle asked in surprise. She pointed to Will, then said, "I've never seen him before."

"His name is Will LaMontagne. He's a detective from New Orleans, he and JJ hit it off when we were down there. Nice kid; they'd just started dating when I left.", Gideon explained and Elle let out a wolf whistle.

"Apparently very well if this little guy came along.", she laughed. She turned the picture over and Hotch told them, 'His name is Henry, Reid and Garcia are his godparents. JJ is set on him going to Yale; Spencer was horrified.'

Gideon let out another laugh and shook his head. Yale would be a drop in a very large ocean for any godchild of Spencer Reid. Elle smiled warmly at him, then said, "I haven't heard you laugh like that since you came here."

"There's a new member of the family, I can find a reason to laugh like that again.", Gideon answered and flipped to the second to last picture. It showed Spencer and Aaron leaning over a map side by side, and Reid had turned his head to look at Hotch for some reason. The picture showed the two looking at each other, and the realization of what he was looking at when he saw the shy smile on Spencer's face hit him like Mack truck. Spencer was in love with Hotch.

Elle chuckled behind him. "You didn't know?", she asked quietly. Gideon shook his head.

"I didn't know.", he answered and flipped the picture over. There was no way Aaron would let a picture like that exist; Strauss would have his head stuffed and mounted before he could hit delete. And that meant that someone had taken it without his knowledge. There was only one person Gideon could think of who had the nerve to risk Hotch's wrath and do something like that.

On the back of the picture, scratchy writing Gideon would know anywhere told them, 'He thinks everyone is waiting for Emily and me. If only he knew about the money I've got riding on those two. I slipped this in when he wasn't looking. Enjoy your vacation, Gideon, Ms. Greenaway.'

So they knew he was with Elle. That answered one question at least. Elle laughed and commented, "I think I like this Rossi guy."

"That'll change once you get to know him.", Gideon promised her. Rossi wasn't a bad guy, he just had a different method and way of thinking than Jason had. It'd led to some pretty vicious rivalries back when they'd worked together, but he'd looked after the family while Gideon was gone.

The two flipped to the last picture and their own faces smiled up at them from the glossy paper. It was one of many pictures taken by Garcia during one of their in-house birthdays; Morgan's if his memory was correct. There was a red lipstick mark on his cheek that matched the same shade Elle wore that day, and the two were smiling at the camera lens, Gideon's arm around her shoulders. Gideon turned it over to read the message and Hotch simply said, 'We found this in one of your desk drawers. The door is always open, for both of you.'

That picture hadn't been at work, he'd kept it on his work desk at home. He remembered Sarah had commented on it when she came over, saying that Elle was a beautiful woman and asking where she went. Gideon couldn't think of an answer and didn't want to lie, so he'd said, 'I don't know.' The last thing they'd talked about before Frank killed her was Elle. Suddenly, Gideon felt like he couldn't breathe through the guilt and he tossed the pictures onto his coffee table and walked away from Elle.

He couldn't see it but he knew he hurt her by walking away, and when she said, "Jason, I'll see you later, alright?", he knew she'd got the message. It was scary how intuitive she was when he was concerned. He didn't answer but when the door slid shut behind her, he slid boneless onto his couch and fell asleep staring at the ceiling and trying to do everything except think about Sarah or Elle.

It was strange. He'd been in Cotton River for a little over a month and for the first time since leaving the Bureau, Gideon wasn't running from Frank. Instead, he was avoiding Elle, as much as you could avoid someone who had been out of town for two days. She'd texted him once the day after the pictures arrived, telling him that she was going to be at her place in another county for three days and that they'd talk when she got back, but he hadn't answered and she hadn't texted him again.

Since then, his mind hadn't stopped racing and the pictures Hotch sent were covered in his fingerprints from the many times he looked through them. This time, though, he sent something back. It was a simple picture taken from the balcony of his apartment complex and the only message he could think to write was, 'It doesn't hurt as much here'. Hotch would understand, and although Spencer probably hated him for leaving, he'd understand as well.

For the two and a half days Elle was gone, Gideon found that Cotton River was boring without her. He'd spent those days eating and catching up on his reading in his apartment. Nick, Elle's receptionist, had been by four times since Elle left to check up on him, and by the time it was six o'clock in the evening the night Elle was supposed to be back home, Gideon had made up his mind.

Frank had ruined his life almost single handed. In his search for Jane, he killed hundreds of women, attacked the people Gideon loved most, would have killed his family and more innocent people before he'd ended his own life and took Jane's with it. He thought of Rebecca and his heart twisted. All of that because he wanted to pretend he felt something for a young woman he'd wanted to kill in the seventies. He didn't blame Jane; she thought he loved her, and if he'd been capable of feeling anything when he wasn't killing people, he might have. But even Jane knew that what he was doing was wrong and she'd come to get Gideon's help, and he felt he'd not only let her down, but let his family down as well by being unable to cope.

The only bright spot was that they'd managed to save Tracey, and he'd sent an e-mail to the Belle family the day after Elle left, leaving his new cell phone number and his promise that if they ever needed anything, he'd do everything he could to help. Tracey had called him the day after and he'd spent an hour talking to her and her family, hearing all about the new school she was going to and the new friends she'd made. She was the only thing Gideon had managed to save from Frank, and although the thought of Sarah still made him feel broken, thinking of the life Tracey could have made him feel a little better.

That thought was what made him realize that he was being a fool. By distancing himself from Elle because of a coincidental link to Sarah, he was letting Frank interfere with his life one more time. It made sense that Sarah would ask about Elle; she'd come over for dinner, he'd left her his key; it made sense that she would be curious about the woman in the photo sitting on his work desk. Granted there were lots of other pictures on or near that desk that she could have commented on; pictures of Stephen that his mother had sent him, pictures of the team from in-house birthdays or their jet trips. There were even pictures JJ had given him that she'd taken during their dinner trips during cases. Logically, he knew Sarah could have asked about any of these; her choosing the one of he and Elle was completely coincidental. In his head he could practically hear Spencer reciting the statistical chances of that happening and it made him smile.

Frank was dead, but Gideon wasn't and despite the odds Elle wasn't either, and Gideon was done letting one dead psychopath interfere with his life. He had a lot of ghosts rattling around in his closet, but Frank would no longer be among them.

With that decision in mind, he'd called the local flower shop, run by Tommy the hotel clerk's aunt, and asked her to get a bouquet ready. The aunt, Bonnie, asked who the flowers were for and Gideon said he had to apologize to Elle for an argument they'd had, and she loved flowers so it seemed like the safest bet. She'd laughed and told him to leave it to her and a half hour later, Tommy dropped off a bouquet to Gideon and told him that because it was for Ms. Greenaway, his aunt said it was on the house.

Gideon immediately called back to say thank you as he walked to the elevator and placed another order; three bouquets of flowers to be delivered to the BAU in Quantico, Virginia, billed to him, and two delivered to Sarah and Rebecca's graves, respectively. She asked what kind of flowers he wanted for the three going to the BAU and instead of fumbling for different flower types, he described the women they were for. JJ and her devotion to their family, Emily and the quirky sense of humour buried under a tough and efficient barrier, and Garcia and her laugh, as well as every different way she tried to bring colour and humour to their world. Bonnie said she had a good idea of the types of flowers that would suit them and told him to leave it to her, and that she would be billing him. As he walked up to Elle's apartment he asked that for the one to JJ, none of the flowers have thorns because she had a baby and it was better to be safe than sorry. Bonnie agreed just as he put the bouquet of flowers on Elle's doorstep and scribbled a note on a post-it note and stuck it to the wrapping.

After getting off the phone with Bonnie, all Gideon could do was wait. He knew Elle would be home soon, and he knew she wouldn't ignore the post-it note, but that left him with a lot of time on his hands. He wondered if he was making the right decision, staying there in Cotton River. Elle would say that he was, that he deserved the rest. If he was happy there then to hell with anyone else, but that begged the question: Was he happy?

It was a difficult question to ask, and even worse to answer. He missed his family, and as hard as it was he missed the job. He missed the satisfaction of a job well done when they caught an unsub and saved a life, but he didn't miss the gut wrenching pain that came when they were just a moment too late. He also didn't miss the mind numbing fear that came along with working with the FBI; the fear that the people he cared most for outside of his son would be injured and there was nothing he could do about it.

But, for all the things he missed and everything he didn't, there were the things that he hadn't known he'd wanted until he found them. He knew he liked quiet towns but he hadn't ever expected his retirement to take him to a little town in the middle of the mountains. He'd missed Elle since the day she left but he hadn't expected that he'd find her again in that town, and he certainly hadn't expected that she'd be one of the reasons he stayed. If Elle hadn't been there, he knew he would have been on the other side of the country by that time, but she was there and now, it looked like he'd be staying there too. That thought brought a smile to his face and he had his answer. He was happy, but it wasn't the change of scenery that was making him happy. It was Elle. It was being near someone who knew about the monsters he saw in the dark; they didn't have claws or venom, but they had knives and guns and car keys and they were a lot harder to kill than the monster under the bed.

Before coming to that tiny town, he'd been bleeding out, and he hadn't realized it but the pain Frank caused was the only thing that kept him going. If he stayed in one place for too long, either Hotch would find him or he'd start hearing Frank everywhere, but since coming to Cotton River, he'd written back to Hotch instead of burning the letter, and he hadn't had a nightmare of Frank in over a month. He'd had a month of peace, and it was thanks to Elle. Because she made him stay.

An hour later, he heard a quick knock at his door and Gideon walked over. When he opened the door, he saw Elle leaning to one side in his doorway, her overnight bag in one hand and the bouquet in the other. She smiled at him, then glanced at the note and said, "'Thank you for bringing me home.'?"

Gideon shrugged and stepped back to allow her to walk in. "It seemed accurate."

"I guess it is. When I read it, I half expected this place to be empty and you on your way back to Virginia, or God knows where.", Elle told him, putting her bag on the couch. She remained standing though and crossed her arms over her chest when she looked at him.

Gideon blinked in surprise. "Why would you think that?"

"You said I brought you home. Since you got here, you made it sound like Virginia was your home.", Elle explained quietly. "I kept expecting you to be gone when I showed up for breakfast each morning."

Gideon smiled slightly. "Then I apologize, that hadn't been my intent.", he told her.

She gave him a slight grin, an improvement to the look of foreboding she'd walked in with. "Then what was your intent, Jason?"

"When I agreed to stay here, what was the first thing you said to me?", Gideon asked her and Elle blinked. She frowned and after a few moments of silence, she looked at him in bafflement. "A little over a month ago, when we were having dinner, you asked me to stay here as a therapist or whatever I wanted to be. A clean slate, you called it. And when I agreed, you said, 'Then welcome home, Jason.' It took me a while but I realize now that this, this apartment, this small town. This is home, and I have you to thank for giving me a reason to stay here."

Elle smiled at him. "Then you're welcome, but I don't remember giving you a reason to stay, Jason.", she said to him. "I wanted you to stay and I hoped you would, but I don't think I gave you a reason."

"You did.", Gideon assured her. "It took me a while to see it but I do now. It might not be where the rest of my family is, but this is home."

"That's good then.", Elle commented and Gideon nodded.

"It is, but I was thinking about inviting the team down here.", Gideon told her. Elle went slightly pale and Gideon added, "It wouldn't be for a while, I'm still not settled in yet, but if this is going to be home, I want my family to be a part of that."

"Are you asking how I feel about it or telling me that that's your plan?", Elle clarified.

"Both. You know they miss you, Elle.", Gideon explained.

"I also know that if I were Hotch, I'd have some not so nice things to say to me.", Elle pointed out. "I'm sorry, Jason. I know they're your family, but I just don't think it's a good idea for me to be here if they're going to be here."

"Elle, they're your family too and if you're not comfortable with them coming here, I won't invite them.", Gideon said simply. Elle opened her mouth to protest and Gideon continued. "Elle, this was your home first. If you don't want them here just yet, that's completely your call but I know you want to meet Henry, at the very least."

Elle scowled at him, while trying to keep a smile off her face. He knew she'd spent hours thinking about Henry since finding out that the baby existed, JJ was as good as blood to her. She wanted to see him more than anything in the world. "That's not fair, Jason.", she said to him. "Of course I want to meet Henry, but don't you think having a group of FBI agents in a sleepy town like this might cause some suspicion?"

"So we won't tell them they're agents; we'll say they're family." Elle didn't reply and Gideon didn't push for an answer.

Months passed with batches of pictures going from Cotton River to Quantico but neither side mentioned the other coming to visit, though Rossi seemed to take great pleasure in gleefully commenting on Hotch's fumbling attempts at a relationship with Spencer. By the time December rolled around and the layer of snow had fallen on the town, Gideon's living room had been filled with framed pictures of the team, and as of a week previous, a giant Christmas tree had taken up residence in the corner of his room, decorated in bright lights and tinsel of all colours. Cotton River had been engulfed in the yuletide spirit and for the first time in years, Gideon found himself humming along to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as he sat at his desk watching the snow fall outside, all pretence of doing work abandoned.

It was two weeks to Christmas Eve and the veteran profiler was watching the clock. He'd been waiting for Elle, who was out of town for her usual three days. She'd promised to be back that night so they could finish wrapping up presents to send back to Virginia, and the train set for Henry, the Doctor Who boxset for Jack (Spencer's influence, he was sure.), and the different gifts for the rest of the team had been piled up on his living room table, waiting to be wrapped and mailed. Gideon was reasonably sure that he'd purchased most of the wrapping paper in Cotton River; he hadn't been able to determine which would be the best, so he'd bought at least one of each and decided to wait for Elle's input. Then the call came two days before.

'_Jason?_', he remembered Elle's static ridden voice asking after he answered the phone call.

'_Elle? I can barely hear you, where are you?_', Gideon asked in alarm.

He heard Elle mutter a curse then a door slammed shut somewhere on her end of the call. '_Can you hear me now?_', Elle asked.

'_A little better. What's going on?'_, Gideon asked.

'_It's this snowstorm, Jason, it's nailed the town completely._', Elle's crackling voice replied.

'_Are you okay?_', he asked.

'_I'm fine, but the snow has everyone trapped. All the roads out of town are blocked and they can't get the ploughs through yet.'_ She laughed. '_I'm in my office right now, I was trying to shovel my way out when I called you. I can barely see ten feet through the snow._'

'_Just stay there, Elle, you should be fine until the ploughs get there. You've got heating and electricity, right?'_

'_I do, and enough tea and coffee to keep me going for a while.'_, Elle promised then said, '_I'm sorry, Jason, I don't think I'm going to get back for the next couple days.'_

'_It's alright, Elle, the presents are still going to be here whenever you get back. Just sit tight and wait for the roads to be cleared._'

That had been the end of the phone conversation and Gideon was on the edge of his seat. The weather seemed to be getting worse and he hadn't heard from Elle since. The veteran profiler sighed and sat back in his chair, looking out his balcony window. Cotton River had been covered in a sheen of white and he let his mind drift.

He almost knocked the table over when he saw an unmarked van pull up in front of the apartment. He stood up and without warning, his mind helpfully reminded him that he had a gun stashed in the hallway closet for just such an occasion. Vans were blocking the top of the street and two unmarked cop cars were on either side of the street, and he knew that there were two more on the other side of the building. He'd been a profiler too long to ignore the signs; there was something going on in his building, and he wondered if it would be more beneficial for him to admit he was there and offer his help or wait and hope they didn't notice him.

Grabbing the gun from the top shelf of the closet on his way out of the apartment, it was an easy choice. Gideon was at the stairwell entrance when his cell phone rang, and when he answered, the first words Hotch said to him were, "Gideon where are you?"

"Fifth floor stairwell entrance. What's going on, Hotch?" There were only a few reasons the BAU would be in Cotton River. Either there was an unsub there, which there wasn't and Gideon knew everyone in town so he knew that for a fact, or it had something to do with he and Elle.

"We think someone took Elle. Stay there, I'm coming up the stairwell now. Don't shoot.", Hotch instructed and Gideon nudged the door open so he could see the stairwell all while his heart beat a random rhythm in his chest. Elle. Someone had taken Elle.

When the dark hair of Aaron Hotchner rushed up the stairwell, gun drawn, Gideon waited until he saw him to move from behind the door. Hotch gave him a half grin and Gideon returned it, then said,

"Good to see you again, Hotch."

"I wish it could be under better circumstances.", Hotch acknowledged.

"What do we know?", Gideon asked as they paced up the two floors between Elle and Gideon's apartments.

"Garcia found the warning signal. The GPS in Elle's van shows her two counties over, but her cell phone and credit cards have both been traced back to here within the last twenty four hours. You know as well as I do that Elle wouldn't be that reckless, so either someone robbed her or they took her. Considering you're both here, we figured it best to check it out just to make sure.", Hotch explained to him, nudging open the door to Elle's floor.

"You could have called me. I'd have checked it out myself.", Gideon told him, seeing JJ keeping guard near the door. She smiled briefly at Gideon then faced the door. When they got nearer to her, she muttered to them,

"The others have the building surrounded. No sign of anyone or Elle."

"We'll find her, JJ.", Gideon assured her. He felt like he'd never left, and Hotch reached over to carefully twist the door handle. He let it slip open and motioned for Gideon to go in first. Gideon snuck in, gun ready, and was quickly blinded by a flash of light.

"Surprise!", a multitude of voices shouted. Gideon stood, slack jawed in surprise, as his team – Morgan, Emily, Rossi, Garcia, Spencer, JJ and Hotch – surrounded him gleefully and assured him that it was a trick, and that everyone was fine. He saw Will standing by the wall near the light switch and felt a smile pull hard on his face.

"How?", he asked in complete bafflement.

"Surprised?", JJ asked, laughing as she slung an arm around his shoulders.

"I should have known when I saw you weren't wearing vests.", Gideon said with a nod as Spencer walked next to her. He and Spencer exchanged a look and Gideon frowned slightly. There was so much to say. "Spencer, I-."

"I understand.", Spencer quickly said with a shaky smile. "I don't like it but… I understand. I'm just glad you're alright, Gideon."

"I am now. What about you?"

He didn't miss the look that passed between Hotch and Spencer but he didn't say anything. He already knew, thanks to Rossi, but Spencer would tell him when he was ready to. "I'm fine now.", the boy genius responded.

Gideon looked around them and noticed that Elle was nowhere to be seen. "Where is-", he tried to ask.

"Over here, Jason." Gideon turned his head and saw Elle standing by the balcony window with Henry in her arms. The baby was playing with a rattle and looking out the glass at the falling snow, but Elle just grinned. She adjusted the squirming baby and said, "I was just over here, getting to know this little guy. Isn't that right, Henry?"

The baby seemed to know when he was being spoken to and he babbled in response, looking up at Elle. Elle laughed and handed the baby over to JJ, who said, "Henry was really excited about meeting his aunt Elle and his uncle Gideon."

"I see that.", Gideon chuckled then looked at Elle. "You planned this?"

"I did.", she admitted proudly. "Well, with help from Garcia. They were monitoring my calls and when I called you, I knew they'd hear about me getting snowed it. They came by the office and dug me out then got me here. I figured it was time to put the last of my ghosts to bed, and what better time to do that than Christmas?"

"So instead of bringing the you to the BAU, we brought the best of the BAU to you.", Morgan explained, shaking hands with Gideon. "Good to see you again, man."

"You too. I'm glad you're all here.", Gideon replied, then was pulled into a hug from Emily.

"Do you know how worried we were about you?", she asked, looking at him.

"I know. I just couldn't…" The words died on his tongue. "I needed something new."

"And you found it?", Rossi asked, giving a sideways glance to Elle who was buried in hugs from JJ, Reid, Garcia and Morgan.

Gideon smiled and nodded. "I did. It took a while, but I did.", he told them then asked, "So how long are you going to be in town for?"

"We were thinking about staying until Boxing Day, if it's alright with the two of you.", Hotch answered.

"What about Jack?", Gideon asked and a shadow flew over Hotch's face.

"Haley has him with her and her family until the 27th, I get him for New Years.", Hotch answered.

"Well, you're all more than welcome to stay. I don't think our places have enough room but I'm sure we can manage something.", Elle promised.

"Great. Now we've just got the luggage, presents and food to haul up. Any volunteers?", Hotch asked. Gideon watched as everyone hastily exited the area, Garcia citing baby amusement duty, JJ and Will citing exemption on terms of parenting, Rossi pleading old age – which made Gideon laugh so loud he startled the baby – and Emily and Elle arguing that they both had pre-existing injuries which counted them out, leaving only an amused Morgan and Hotch and a horrified Spencer to do the heavy lifting.

Elle pulled Gideon over to the couch to sit with Henry, who began playing with blocks while JJ and Garcia brought them up to speed on everything they'd missed. Gideon let it wash over him and looked out the window. He wasn't normally a festive person, but he figured, he had his family with him and a new life. If there was ever a time to celebrate, that was definitely it.

**AN: Cheesy ending is cheesy. I'd apologize for it but I liked it. **

**There we go, guys! Hopefully now that this beast is out of the way I can get to work on my other stuff. :) I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks again for reading! **

**Much love,  
Oracle. (L)**


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